Symbology is a big word that refers to a simple process—a shorthand of symbols or abbreviations to stand for longer words, phrases, concepts, calculations, and so forth. Symbols let us communicate economically with others who either are familiar with them or can tease out their meanings.As do all industries, the oil and gas industry has its own symbols. Oil & Gas Journal has adopted most of them. It does not explain b/d, fph, or psia because editors assume readers (of OGJ) will understand the abbreviation, indeed even mentally say “barrels per day.”But all linguistic symbols arise and evolve just as language has, just as any organism in nature has and does. That evolution,...